PSHE
Personal, Social, Health Education & Citizenship
What is the intent of our PSHE curriculum?
At St Margaret’s Church of England Junior School we use Twinkl Life’s PSHE and Citizenship scheme. This scheme equips children with essential skills for life, ensuring that they live life in all its fullness and grow and achieve in God’s love. It intends to develop the whole child through carefully planned and resourced lessons that develop the knowledge, skills and attributes children need to protect and enhance their wellbeing. Children will learn how to stay safe and healthy, build and maintain successful relationships and become active citizens, responsibly participating in society around them, which links with our Christian vision.
Twinkl Life PSHE and Citizenship units aim to cover a wide range of the social and emotional aspects of learning, enabling children to develop their identity and self-esteem as active, confident members of their community. The themes and topics support social, moral, spiritual and cultural development and provide children with protective teaching on essential safeguarding issues, developing their knowledge of when and how they can ask for help. The scheme of work fulfils the requirements of 2020 Statutory Relationships and Health Education, setting these learning intentions in the context of a broad and balanced PSHE curriculum.
How do we implement our PSHE curriculum?
We teach Twinkl Life’s PSHE scheme of work in thematic units, which consist of six lessons. These units are taught in a spiral curriculum that revisits each theme every two years. This enables children to recall and build upon previous learning, exploring the underlying principles of PSHE education regularly at a depth that is appropriate for the age and stage of the child. Lessons also signpost key words, building a rich vocabulary to develop understanding. In addition, children are encouraged to use their Literacy skills to explain in detail what they think about each aspect of the PSHE curriculum.
We deliver this scheme in a creative manner, using many approaches such as role play, discussion and games with groups of various sizes, the intention of this is to overcome our ‘communication and language’ barrier to learning. These activities enable children to build confidence and resilience, which is another barrier to learning at St Margaret’s. Resources are shared with parents with suggestions for extending the learning at home. In addition, we teach a 'Building Resilience' programme to each class, which consists of 7 lessons focusing on how to develop resilience in all aspects of learning. Children are able to articulate what it means both orally and in writing, which develops their communication and language skills.
Each lesson begins with a discussion of children’s existing knowledge and experience, providing an opportunity for baseline assessment. Each lesson ends with an opportunity to consolidate and reflect upon learning.
| Year | Topics Covered |
| 3 | Britain Aiming High It’s My Body Money Matters Be Yourself TEAM |
| 4 | Safety First Think Positive Respecting Rights Growing Up VIPs One World |
| 5 | Be Yourself Britain Aiming High It’s My Body Money Matters TEAM |
| 6 | Safety First Think Positive One World Growing Up VIPs Respecting Rights |
How do assess the impact our curriculum?
Through the Twinkl Life’s PSHE scheme of work children are enabled to develop the vocabulary and confidence needed to clearly articulate their thoughts and feelings in a climate of openness, trust and respect, and know when and how they can seek the support of others. They will apply their understanding of society to their everyday interactions, from the classroom to the wider community of which they are a part. Twinkl Life’s PSHE scheme of work supports the active development of a school culture that prioritises physical and mental health and wellbeing, providing children with skills to evaluate and understand their own wellbeing needs, practise self-care and contribute positively to the wellbeing of those around them.
Successful PSHE education can have a positive impact on the whole child, including their academic development and progress, by mitigating any social and emotional barriers to learning and building confidence and self-esteem. The Twinkl Life PSHE and Citizenship scheme of work is used as a whole-school approach to positively impact wellbeing, safeguarding and SMSC outcomes. This ensures that all children are able to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to succeed at school and in the wider world, thus living life in all its fullness and growing and achieving in God’s love.
